How To Create Multiple Ad Tags For One Page With DFP

Getting into the art of digital publishing is probably one of the sharpest learning curves you will ever face in the world of digital marketing. Monetising your website may sound like a great idea, and if you're only going to use Adsense, it's relatively straight forward. The same, however, cannot be said for the enterprise level publishing tools like DoubleClick for publishers now known as Ad Manager.

Anyone who has used this tool can vouch for two things, it has made publishing and site monetisation more comfortable and more agile but using the tool is still more painful than a root canal. Creating multiple ad positions, line items and filling orders is a full-time job and a time consuming one at that. So when Google does something that ads to the pain the community is going to revolt.

DFP (Ad Manager) removes the generate tag tab

Recently Google decided to remove the generate tag option which allowed users to add multiple ad units into a batch and create ad tags for a single page. For example, if I wanted 3 ad positions on this post I would need the following:

Head tag

Ad position one tag

Ad position two tag

Ad position 3 card

Previously a user would be able to add the 3 tags they needed for the single page or page template into a generate filed and DFP would spit out a combined header tag with 3 ad position tags for you to use.

Now Google has removed this feature and will need to generate a tag for each ad unit and a header tag for each ad unit. This is not only painful but bloats the pages with additional code, adding further insult to injury. There has been no word as to why Google has removed the feature and has given no reason as to why they've done this nor any feedback as to when it will be fixed.

How to still create multiple ad tags with Ad Manager (DFP)

In my search for an answer, I happened to stumble upon a third party tool called DFP Tags Generator Beta which can be used for free.

To get started all you will need is your network ID which can be found on the side panel of your Ad Manager account or the URL of your Ad Manager account.

Once you've added your network ID go back to Ad Manage and create the ad units you require for the page

Next, take the add unit code and add it in Ad Slot 1

Click the + sign next to the ad unit and repeat this step for as many units as you need

Once you're done click generate

Copy and paste your tags to your site

You will also be able to debug your ads within the tool as well as review orders placed within each ad unit which comes in handy if you're not able to mess around on your live site.

Protip! Create an account with DFP tag generator If you want to save your tag templates. It really comes in handy when you're forced to do troubleshooting

Don't duplicate your work

We all know that tag creation is one of the pains of ad management so hopefully, this workaround will help you save some time and some hair pulling in the process. If you have any news as to why Ad Manager has implemented this change or any workarounds you're using then feel free to share it with us in the comments.

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